SWAT team enters wrong home, homeowner sues city of St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV.com) -
A homeowner is suing the city of St. Louis after a SWAT team broke down his front door, but they had the wrong house.

Leon Walker and his family live in the 5600 block of Geraldine, where a SWAT team broke down the door to execute the search warrant, which was for a man who lived two doors down.

"Once they are at the premises, why didn't Detective Vaughn say, 'wait a minute, I did the surveillance and this is not the right house, everybody stop,'" said Attorney Bevis Schock, who represents the Walker family.

After finding nothing at the Walker house, a building inspector issued the Walker family a citation.

"In this case the insult was to have the building inspector cite them for the window that had been broken by the police an hour earlier as part of the entry, and that's outrageous," Schock said.

The St. Louis Police Department referred News 4 to the City Counselor's Office for comment on the SWAT procedures, but they did not respond.